When a veneer is applied to a board, such as particle board, to improve its appearance, a narrow band of veneer coated on one surface with a heat sensitive adhesive is normally also applied around the edges of the board so that none of the substrate board itself is visible. Various devices have been proposed in the past for quickly and effectively applying such bands or tapes, but these have had difficulties as a result of the need to avoid heating the application roller.
The requirement is that a band or tape of veneer material, coated with heat sensitive adhesive on one surface and being of the same width as the edge of a board to which the tape is to be applied, be fed past a hot air duct. The duct blows hot air onto the coated surface of the tape to heat the adhesive material. The tape is then passed between an application roller and the board, enabling the roller to press the tape onto the edge of the board. When the end of the board is reached, the tape is severed, and when the severed end of the tape has passed the hot air blower the hot air tends to blow directly onto the application roller and heat it, thus producing a tendency for the tape to adhere to the roller. This has generally been avoided in the past by redirecting the flow of hot gas so that it is directed away from the application roller. However, this has involved movement of the hot air duct, and this movement tends to shorten the life of the heating element within the duct. The construction is also rather complicated.
It is an object of the present invention to go some way towards alleviating the above difficulties or to provide the public with a useful choice.